Oklahoma Sooners
| Oklahoma Sooners | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| University | University of Oklahoma |
| Conference | Big 12 Conference |
| NCAA | Division I |
| Athletic director | Joe Castiglione |
| Location | Norman, Oklahoma |
| Varsity teams | 19 |
| Football stadium | Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium |
| Basketball arena | Lloyd Noble Center |
| Baseball stadium | L. Dale Mitchell Baseball Park |
| Other arenas | Headington Tennis Center McCasland Field House Vierson Gymnastics Center |
| Mascot | Sooner Schooner |
| Nickname | Sooners |
| Fight song | Boomer Sooner |
| Colors | Crimson and Cream |
| Website | www |
The Oklahoma Sooners (often referred to as Oklahoma or OU) feature 19 varsity sports teams, each of which represents the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. Both men's and women's teams are called the "Sooners", a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Rush of 1889, which initially opened the Unassigned Lands in the future state of Oklahoma to non-native settlement. The university's athletic teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division I, in the Big 12 Conference. The university's current athletic director is Joe Castiglione.
In 2002, the University of Oklahoma was ranked as the third best college sports program in America by Sports Illustrated. When combined with Blake Griffin's John Wooden Award and Sam Bradford's Heisman Trophy, Oklahoma became the second school to have a top winner in both basketball and football in the same year (Gary Beban won the Heisman Trophy and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won the USBWA "Player of the Year" award in 1968 for UCLA).
The University of Oklahoma was a charter member of the Southwest Athletic Conference (SWC) during its formation in 1914. Five years later, in 1919, OU left the SWC and joined the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association. In 1928, this conference split, and OU remained aligned with the teams that formed the Big Six Conference. Over the next 31 years, more schools were added and the conference underwent several name changes, incrementing the number each time up to the Big Eight Conference where it remained until 1996. Four more universities were added then and the name was changed one more time to its current form: the Big 12 Conference.
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